Welcome to windrivers. Maybe it's because I just woke up but what do you mean?:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by BundakUwan
Printable View
Welcome to windrivers. Maybe it's because I just woke up but what do you mean?:confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by BundakUwan
I been up for awhile and I dont know what he/she means
The latest gem:
Reloaded a desktop 5+ years old (caps still good, as she only uses it to type E-mail and look up sewing web sites, so 1 gig of ram is fine for her needs.) Explained to her that I saved all of her old stuff, asked her what the printer was that she has, so I could pre-load it and save her some grief when she got it home. She glared at me as if I had just inquired when her last bowel movement was, and haughtily informed me that “I have no printer”. I apologize for this egregious faux pas, as I sense this might be a sore subject. She then grudgingly pays me, takes the computer home, and the fun begins. Ring-ring! “Hello, I can’t get this $#@! To start! What did YOU do to it?” I grit my teeth; ask her if the green power light on her monitor is on. “No, it never was before… Wait, ok, now it’s working, I fixed that”. I sigh, plainly and loudly, and thank her yet again. Two minutes pass, and the inevitable occurs. Ring Ring! “Now I keep getting a box coming up asking me for a cd! I don’t use cd’s! Why is it asking me for a cd?” She panics. I calmly ask her what exactly is the informational box saying, and she tells me. I realize that contrary to popular belief, she does indeed have a printer. After ensuring that she no longer has the errant driver cdrom, I walk her through getting the drivers through the manufacturer’s website, an grueling task in itself, best forgotten. I finally ask her if there is anything else she needs, and she slowly demurs, I can almost hear the gears in her mind grinding away at each other. As a parting shot, she then quips ”I knew I should have just left it the way it was”, insinuating that I had somehow controlled her mind and ordered her to bring it to me for repair. I innocently reply “But even you admitted that you couldn’t get online or do anything with it the way it was with the viruses and malware it had.” A pregnant pause at the other end of the line, then a quiet burst of mumbled curses. “%$#&^%#@!!” and she hangs up. Sigh.
Yep, that't pretty high on the annoyance scale alright! I have one customer (a tax attorney), who is a little absent minded, and also tends to panic at the drop of a hat. Anyway, she called me yesterday while I was eating lunch and said her computer wouldn't come on and she had a client coming in 15 minute. The machine is one I built, and only 2 months old, so I'm about as panicked as she is. Put lunch in "to go" box and drove over to her office. Where I found the monitor turned off. Pressed power button, and all was well. I assume that she had hit the bottom mounted switch pciking up a pencil, or whatever. She was grateful, I didn't charge her, and I even managed not to start laughing until I was back in my car.
...and I even managed not to start laughing until I was back in my car.
Kudos! I don't think I could have done it. When I had my episode, I chuckled and covered the phone mic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guts3d
This customer saw me walk by in the hallway at work and stated that her son's computer is still working fine. She insinuated that I should not have charged her for fixing it, as all that I had to do was "sit there and press an occasional button". I replied " Well, just what do you do for a living?' knowing full well that as an accountant, she sat in front of a computer all day... Pressing buttons... It was priceless to see that realization cross her features like an avalanche of irony.
Well if you go on flat service rates such as "windows installs are only X amount"
You could follow the method my one friend practices.
The service costs X.
You and your time doing it are free.
Followed by, "If you feel this is not fair I can easily get a comparison for the cost of my time and add that to the bill."
I like to make them sign a waiver myself. I'm charging you X for this. I will not charge you more than X, however if something else bad comes up you also are signing to agree that I am not responsible to fix it until I get your approval and a second signature with the new costs.
I had this one the other day.
Customer called and asked me to stop by . I said well what's up?
He says well the computer seems to be stuck in safe mode.
I really screwed it up this time
I said well what exactly happened? He says well i don't know. I think I bumped it
I said ok I will be there tomorrow. I show up and yup its definitely in safe with a black background.
I start looking at it and it is a old Acer Sempron 2200 with 1 gig of ram.
It has windows 7 Ultimate on it. (Anyone getting a clue yet?) So I start looking at it and the event viewer is nothing but red X's. I cant even begin to name the different things that have errored . Anyway I ask them where they got it. Ah my son built it for me. Nice turns out it's the son that gave them his cast off Acer and then put a hacked copy of Windows 7 Ultimate on it. I guess its coincidental that when he thought he messed something up, Microsoft issued a new fix for those activation bypass programs. I explain to them that I could purchase a license for the Ultimate version but its very expensive. So they ask if they will loose everything. I tell them the prices and then told them to maybe ask their son why he put a stolen copy of windows on it. I will hear Monday what will be done about it.
Parents are easily in their 70's and the wife is having a panic attack about having to sort all of the baby pictures again after the mess that was made when (he) upgraded them to windows 7 to start with.
If i ventured a guess, I suspect he charged them and used that to fund a new computer. Pretty dam sad thing to do to your parent's
And that's why I sigh!!!!!!!!!!
That's just wrong in so many ways. Reminds me of my step-dads nephew, I'm always having to fix a problem on their PCs at work and when I get done windows will need activated or something else. Why? Because when I run my anti-virus utilities it removes the hackerware that made the stolen windows/office/photoshop/dreamweaver/acrobat install he put in for them work. Naturally the next question I get is "well why doesn't it work anymore? he put it in for us." For 7 whole years i've been fighting that battle.
...Naturally the next question I get is "well why doesn't it work anymore? he put it in for us." For 7 whole years i've been fighting that battle.
Sheesh! Ask them if they got the Certificates of Authentication, the boxes that the software came in, etc. and watch the fun that ensues! ( Especially if the blighter charged them for the software! )
He does it as a favor. The thing is my step dad and his nephew are strong believers in "if you can copy it/get a hacked version then you shouldn't ever pay money for a legit version". It doesn't help that my mom downloads virii on a daily basis in an effort to get free tools to hide what you do on the net, hide your IP, and "stalkerware" from those sites that claim their little program can find dirt on anyone by simply installing it.
Maybe those reasons are why I'm having a blast making a slipstream of XP for where I work, the install is so locked down the only thing you can do is work or turn the pc off.
Group policy is a great tool for that. ( Start, Run, GPEDIT.MSC )
I'm using some group policies as well, my big thing I like with a slipstream is I can make the CD not have the files for some features that the users should never have and therefore makes the OS install devoid of them being added as an afterthought. Putting users on restricted access only magnifies the control at that point. Still working on getting approval for Deep Freeze, once I get that these machines will be virtually bulletproof to the standard users tinkering.
You might be surprised. Some bootkits like TDSS can still infect systems that are protected with MS Steady State, and I would suspect that the same may be true of Deep Freeze, or any of the other similar software.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niclo Iste
You sir are correct, and I'm prepared to have those as the only risks on the systems.Quote:
Originally Posted by slgrieb
Always. Except when I'm wrong. Lately, I'm pushing clients to use a White List on their Internet connections, and only permitting connections to a few specific work related sites. Man, is there lamentation heard in the land!Quote:
Originally Posted by Niclo Iste
I have limited experience with Steady State, but have found it to have a large hit on performance, as well as making life difficult for routine maintenance like installing updates. Given that you don't ever know how a given vulnerability may be exploited until after the fact, usually, I think it remains important to keep everything patched as a safeguard.
Which (finally) gets me to the point of the post: I've found Steady State good for systems that don't need to be top performers (kiosks, hotel lobbies, etc.where you can just blow out the installation if you need to anyway) but otherwise, they are annoying to administer. In fact, I'd say Steady State works better as a tool to preserve the system configuration than as a security tool. So, I'm curious; does Deep Freeze avoid some of the limitations and annoyances of Steady State?
With the several test machines I've made it has had a small footprint, and I've never noticed a difference in performance. It does have the ability to have non-frozen sections so you can allow for file manipulation in the directories you dictate. You can also disable it for full access to do higher end file changes. Server editions allow for an automated turn off of the software so patches and updates can be pushed through. I suggest doing a test install and see what you think. www.faronics.com is where it can be found. The program is as easy to remove as it is to install from the times I tried it. But it wouldn't hurt to use a test machine.Quote:
Originally Posted by slgrieb
Thanks for the info. I'm short on test machines at the moment, 'cause I've hit one of those periodic cycles where everything in the office needs a PSU or some sort of maintenance, and my primary machine has just had its second OCZ Vertez 2 180GB drive crap out within 6 months. At the moment, I'm not feeling very experimental. But, I agree this might be worth a look. Me love you long time too, buddy.
Latest sigh-inducer:
My cell phone rings, and it is a customer I have dealt with twice in the past. "My Mac just died, and it won't boot. I get an error, but I just want to be sure that the data is retrieveable. I know your daughter has a mac, we can hook the drive up to it and burn to a disk, right?"
Me: "I suppose, I'll have to ask her if I may use it. Did you want to bring it here, or did you need me to come there, and when?" Her: "Oh, you'll have to come here, I don't have wheels right now, and I need this done NOW." Me: " Okay, I'll ask the kid and see what can be done. Remember, if I have to come there, I'll have to charge you for travel, in addition to my hourly rate, which I prefer in cash." Astonished customer: "WHAT??? I didn't think you should charge me, we're just getting freaking data from a drive!!!" Me: "Sigh..."
I wonder if she does the same thing when she calls for delivery and saysQuote:
Originally Posted by Guts3d
"oh I don't want a pizza I just want a drink"
Ma'm we'll have to charge for the delivery and the drink.
"but I'm thirsty why do I have to pay if I don't want any pizza?"
Dammit, now I want delivery pizza...
...And less than a month later, I get delivery pizza. MMMM... Cheesy!
My story is just this
Itunes+iphone+Customer
Need I say more
SIGH!!!!!!!
I've got a good one, but it's about Intuit support and not a customer. 2 weeks ago one of my iMac owning clients had some problems with her shiny new computer, and a hard drive replacement later it was running again. However, while the drive was going south, it corrupted many files. Apple's local Authorized Solutions Provider cloned the drive, but didn't attempt any file repairs. So, I had to re install a printer and some misc. software, including QuickBooks for Mac 2011.
Anyway, in the end, I contacted Intuit support for help in rebuilding the company file. Of course, the customer had to purchase an annual support plan, and then I sent Intuit the company file and two backup files (in case the company file couldn't be repaired), and Lo!, neither the company file nor the backups could be recovered. Nor could they recover the next two most recent backups I sent. So, Intuit simply closed out the support ticket.
...So, Intuit simply closed out the support ticket.
And smiled with the satisfaction of a job not done. I get those on the Base.
Yeah, it wasn't just Intuit, it was Apple's warranty service that was also half as-sed. I tried to get other backups to restore, but in the end, I had to make a copy of the end of the year file the client's accountant had, and they are re-entering almost 3 months of data. The screwiest thing of all was that the backup files were burned to CD, not stored on the hard drive, so apparently Quickbooks had been having problems for a while, presumably due to the failing drive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Guts3d
However, on the bright side, the client has a one year support plan now, so if they have any further problems Intuit can't fix, it won't cost them extra.
And that is where the true savings come in. I always prefer saving money on shoddy support over the loss of revenue from shoddy support. Glad I don't use anyting by intuit and I knew there was a reason I hated dealing with their products.Quote:
Originally Posted by slgrieb
The reason Intuit has more or less cornered the market is by selling the product cheap to users, and offering accountants free training and free software. Once a business is committed to the basic program, it's easy to sell a web site, credit card processing, and payroll services. At that point, QuickBooks can sell you a mandatory update anytime they want because it's cheaper than changing to another program. Been using Microsoft Office Accounting for 5 years now, and I'll never, never, ever, use any of Intuit's crap again. But, lots of customers do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Niclo Iste
This thread has just come full circle; the person I dealt with in the very first post brought the computer to me. "ITunes just won't open!". "Hmmm... " sayest I, with a puzzled look. Before I can ask, I get a sarcastic "... And before you say it, I deleted ITunes and reloaded it twice. I made sure that I d/l the 64 bit version. No dice." I start up the dinosaur ( I mean ) computer, and everytime I click on ITunes, I get a flash of Quicktime trying to open and then nothing. I look in Task Manager and under Processes, and see that indeed Quicktime is hogging the show. I delete it, and lo and behold, ITunes works as planned. I ask if Quicktime is ever used, and I get an even snottier "NO!" than I thought was warranted. I make what I believe to be a totally needless admonishment NOT to reload Quicktime, and she quickly pays me and then bolts. 15 minutes later, I get the inevitable phone call with, you guessed it, ITunes isn't working again. "Just what the heck is wrong with this piece of %$#@!? " I sigh, deeply and purposefully, and ask the obvious. " Did you reload Quicktime?" A brief hesitation... Well, yes... But it worked before!!!
Almost forgot this thread existed.
Before I left my most recent position I had a fun why I sigh moment.
A week before my departure I notice an infector on the network. I have two options. Tell them and help, or not care and let them figure it out when they find it. I figured tell and help was better and wouldn't result in finger pointing. To make a long story short here are the bullet points.
1. It took 2 days for them to listen to my warning of computers all having errors and the same infector files on them.
2. The day they decided to listen it took 4 hours to set up an "emergency meeting of all the lead techs and IT managers"
3. They left me out of the discussion and listed to the advice of people not even involved with the site regarding the generic ideals of how to handle an unknown to them infector.
4. I spent the wasted time creating, documenting, and applying a fix on 2 test computers.
5. It took another 2 hours to get them to realize that the fix was needed and would work.
6. In the debriefing after it was all said and done ALL of the IT managers wanted to know why their Symantec corporate level AV was not capable of finding and stopping a newer infector regardless of being up to date on their DAT files.
7. After the debriefing the managers did not want to believe or understand that ALL antivirus products are not bulletproof and discredited my report.
And that, my friends, is an example of why I was leaving there in the first place.
Why is it the people who work the hardest, have the most talent, and come up with the elegant solutions are paid and heeded the least?
...ALL of the IT managers wanted to know why their Symantec corporate level AV was not capable of finding and stopping a newer infector regardless of being up to date on their DAT files. <-- that is the equivalent of someone saying " I put locks on my doors, now my house is 100% burglar proof!."
Usually I do not learn article on phorums, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very nice article. best wishes
well at least we have bots that give us thing to read,
Jamaican bot-sled team.......:grin:
As my old room mate used to say "Locks only keep out the honest thieves".Quote:
Originally Posted by Guts3d
sometimes guys I am glad I am semi retired .. can never retire all together in my blood an all..
I dont miss these people
So I was told recently by my last business that they are disappointed at the shape I left them in during my last week. I was a bit surprised they were telling me that since I trained a novice home hobbyist how to run the place, discovered a threat on the network, created a fix for it, and stayed to help deploy this fix.Quote:
Originally Posted by Guts3d
Ha, I almost forgot this addition, this happened a few months back.
We're in a meeting about how to remove EVERY trace of SEP. Now if you've ever done an analysis on how many changes SEP does to a machine you know it's a daunting task of over 2000 registry keys. I had the resources from symantec to find these keys partially, so I had to do the analysis to find ALL keys and what changes were made or added. In our IT meeting of how to nuke it from current working installs that could not stand to be re-deployed I showed how I made a massive reg key and bat file utility to do the work for us in seconds.
The lead network security tech looks at my work and says "This won't work, it looks like it's missing commands and switches to revert the keys"
I look at it and say "I don't see where you are finding this"
The lead network security tech replies "I don't know I only know linux"
After that point I realized I had better things to do than to be on a phone meeting.
I worry about places that "could not stand to be re-deployed". Where is the back up and disaster recovery?
Much quicker to do a bare metal recovery than altering 2000 reg keys.
Believe me there was much I was worried about there. People with degrees in things that I don't know the first thing about in IT but I'm the one who has the foresight and common sense to realize that a standardized image for the stand alone workstations is good business sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by NooNoo